


Worth It

by windychimes



Category: Tales of the Abyss
Genre: Gen, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-11-17
Updated: 2011-11-17
Packaged: 2017-10-26 04:48:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,116
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/278865
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/windychimes/pseuds/windychimes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Luke’s a lot of work, but sometimes, he’s worth it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Worth It

Guy’s the first person to hear the wails, the resounding screech echoing of the manor walls. He’s the first person there, too, and that’s lucky. None of the maids can comfort Luke like he can and if Duke Fabre had to come out—

Guy shudders; he’s not even going to think about that.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay.” Luke jumped on Guy the moment he came in. He clings tightly to Guy’s chest, sobbing into it. “What happened?”

“Everyone was gone!” he wails as he grips Guy’s night shirt. “Mama and Father and you and—”

Luke whimpers into Guy’s shirt, words turning into broken gasps as he cries into Guy’s chest. Guy just holds him, let’s Luke cry it all out, cause yeah, that’s what he needs right now. It’s been a long time since Guy’s had to do this, almost three years now; Luke stopped having nightmares a few months after he came back. When Luke’s sobbing finally begins to subside Guy draws him back, wiping reddened eyes with the back of his sleeve. Luke smiles weakly at him as he sniffles.

“Better?” Guy asks, returning Luke’s smile.

Luke bows his head, shaking it. “No…”

Guy’s about to ask what’s wrong when he feels wetness press against his leg. He looks down and sees the front of Luke’s night gown is soaked, a dark spot beneath him.

“Oh…”

Cringing, Guy stands, lifting Luke with him. He leads Luke to the bathroom, shaking his head; one thing he definitely did not miss about the nightmares was bed wetting.

“Don’t tell Mama,” Luke mumbles as Guy starts the bath, night gown already stripped off. “I, I don’t wanna…”

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell her. You won’t have to wear diapers again.”

Guy certainly doesn’t want to go back to changing them.

When the water’s halfway up Guy turns it off. Luke grips Guy’s outstretched hand as he steps in, legs a little unsteady. He’s still shaken from the nightmare, Guy can tell, and holds onto his hand until he has to let go. Guy rolls up his sleeves as he pulls down a washcloth, soaping it thoroughly before he begins to scrub Luke. He starts with Luke’s feet first to ease him up, smiling to himself as Luke giggle and squirm as the washcloth passes over his toes. When Luke’s sufficiently relaxed he moves up to his legs, cleaning him thoroughly to get the urine smell off him. He hands the cloth over to Luke so he can wash his private areas and steps back, stripping off his pajama bottoms. Guy grabs another cloth and wets it, scrubbing his thigh and grimacing when he sees the wet spot on his pants. He’ll have to clean to those in the morning.

“Wash my hair!” Luke squeals when he’s done, splashing the water to get Guy’s attention.

Sighing, Guy puts his own washcloth down and grabs Luke’s, liberally applying shampoo to it. Luke hums happily as Guy works the soap in, splashing gently. Guy exhales silently and cracks a smile; he likes seeing Luke like this.

“Close your eyes, the shampoo will sting.” Guy fills a small bucket with water and pours it over Luke’s head. “Did you get any in your eyes?”

“No!” Luke chirps, head still down.

Guy does a couple more bucketfuls before he examines Luke’s hair, making sure all the soap is out. “Okay, all done. Out you go.”

He steps back and pulls Luke out of the tub, grabbing a big towel and wrapping it around him. Luke continues to him happily as Guy dries him off, no longer disturbed by his earlier nightmare. Once Guy’s finished he pulls his pants back on, trying to ignore the stain for the moment. He’s certainly not going to walk around the manor pantless.

As Luke skips into his room Guy moves ahead of him. Pulling the blankets off the bed, he strips the bed down to the mattress. Guy places the soiled sheeting next to the bed, sure the maids will wash it in the morning. Luke watches intently as Guy clears the bed, always interested in whatever he does.

“I guess I should take you to your parents’ room, huh?” Guy says, holding his hand out to Luke. “You can’t sleep here tonight.”

“I don’t wanna!” Luke whines, stamping his foot. “I wanna sleep in your bed!”

Guy balks, taking a step back. “Luke, you know we can’t do that…”

“I don’t care! I wanna do it!”

Luke pouts something fierce at Guy, cheeks all puffed up. He stamps his foot again and Guy sighs. It’s too late to be dealing with this.

“Okay, okay, we’ll go to my room. But I’m taking you back to yours before your father gets up.”

“Yay!” Luke squeals, dropping his towel and throwing himself at Guy to catch him in a tight embrace. “Let’s go, let’s go!”

“Hold up, let’s get you dressed.” Guy manages to escape Luke’s grip without too much trouble and heads over to Luke’s dresser. He opens it and pulls out the first clean night gown he can find, heading back to Luke. He’s not thrilled with the thought of being caught with a naked Luke in his bed. “Put this on and we can go.”

For once, Luke doesn’t protest, and he pulls on the night gown, already running to the door before it’s fully on. The pitter-patter of his bare feet sound in the hallway as he runs down, shockingly loud in the quiet of the night. Guy hurriedly follows after Luke, catching up to him and leading him into his room before he can get into any trouble. He jumps on to the bed and squeals, wriggling under the covers. Guy casts a glance at Pere to see if Luke woke him up, but he makes no indication of it.

He wouldn’t be surprised if Pere reprimanded him in the morning, however.

Stripping off his pajama bottoms, Guy pulls on a new pair and slides into bed with Luke. Luke’s already asleep, splayed across the bed and taking up all the room. Guy chuckles to himself as he rolls Luke over to make just enough room to himself, grinning despite the situation. Luke yawns and murmurs about before rolling back, wrapping his arms around Guy as he slides under the covers. He’s quick to snuggle up to Guy, burying his face in Guy’s side and clinging to him like he would a toy. Luke’s grip is tight but he manages to loosen it up enough to lie back comfortably, even with Luke taking up most of the room.

Guy sighs, still grinning; Luke’s a lot of work, but sometimes, he’s worth it.


End file.
